Mark Schwarzer will extend the hand of friendship when former team-mate Fabrizio Ravanelli returns to Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Mark Schwarzer will extend the hand of friendship when former team-mate Fabrizio Ravanelli returns to Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Derby's Italian striker heads back to the Riverside Stadium for the first time since his whirlwind spell on Teesside ended in relegation from the Premiership and an escape to Marseille.

The former Juventus frontman may receive a hostile welcome from some of those who remember the way in which he left the club barely a year after his arrival, but Schwarzer for one has no problem with one of Boro's most colourful old boys. "I was only here with him for five months or so, but I never had a problem with him," said the Australian, who joined Boro from Bradford some six months after Ravanelli.

"I felt that he was a very professional player - he was one of the most professional players I've ever seen.

"He always did all the work on the training pitch, he never complained on the training pitch, stayed back, was a tremendous finisher and a good pro.

"What happened off the pitch and what happened with the media, I don't know. A lot of stuff was misinterpreted and a lot of stuff was made up, so you just don't know.

"But as far as I was concerned, I thought he was a very good player and a very good pro." Ravanelli frequently found himself at the centre of controversy during his short stay on Teesside and beyond.

But despite sparking several critical headlines, he has repeatedly insisted since he left that he has a soft spot for Boro.

What is not in question is that his 31 goals played a major part in the most remarkable season in the club's history as they reached two major cup finals, lost them both and were relegated to Division One.

"He probably won't get too good a reception from the fans, but I think that everyone deep down knows what a quality player he is," said Schwarzer.

"You don't score 31 goals, albeit 15 or so in the cup competitions, unless you're a quality player. If you look back at the team that we had when we got relegated, obviously we had individual players that were outstanding players but it didn't gel together as a team.

"That's why we got relegated, not because of those individual players, but in general, the whole team didn't gel together as possibly we have over the last couple of years.

"That's why we've maintained our position in the Premier League and done reasonably well, apart from a couple of minor hiccups along the way."

For all that the Ravanelli era did not bring the success it promised to Middlesbrough, Schwarzer admits that it was thrilling to occupy a seat on the rollercoaster ride.

"Probably the main reason I actually came to Middlesbrough Football Club was Bryan Robson, but then I saw the squad he had at the time," he said. "We were bottom with 19 points and I think we were four points adrift at that time, but that didn't bother me one bit.

"I looked at the team and thought 'Hang on a second'. You looked at the players and thought it couldn't possibly be right, and I felt that I could make a difference.

"In the 11 games that I played that season, whether it was me or whether it was all of us collectively, I thought we made a difference.

"We picked up some really good results and if we could have kept that momentum going, if we'd won the cup final against Leicester when we ended up drawing 1-1, I'm sure we would have stayed up that season without a doubt.

"If you ask any Middlesbrough fan, they'll probably tell you that the most exciting time in Middlesbrough's history was when we had that team."